My older posts...archives back to 2005

who's among us

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

(I am sorry if there are mistakes in my post, it is late and I don't want to proof read, I want to go to bed, please forgive the errors, nightyo.)

So, we are here. Three years from the time we bought it. Two summers of it being a cottage. One and a half years of renovating. Now we are living our dream. A dream that changed and shrunk and was reworked and fine tooned to become what we have now.

It still feels surreal yet at the same time I feel so removed from our old house and way of life there that it feels like we have been here for years. In truth it has now been nearly a month but it still feels like a vacation. I cannot explain how awesome it is but we are loving it, every moment! I can hardly believe we lived in the city and that I was stressed out about the move and would I like it and would I miss the city and it's conveniences and yada yada. What a waste of stress. I feel hight on happy and sunlight. It is intoxicating.

We see the deer and squirrels, watch and listen to the birds and hear the occasional snowmobile in the distance.

And it is not like we are out in the booneys, well not really. We are in a village and we do have neighbors but for the most part it doesn't feel like it. It is a different pace out here.

It is the kind of place where the men folk seem to find their way out onto the streets regularly to chitty chat and it is all casual and friendly, well so far. It is just different.

And I love it.

I was worried about the winters being lonely and cold. Maybe I will think that someday but I love the solitude so far. It is blissful and peaceful and pretty and calm. I watch the sun come up in the morning and the set over the lake at night, all I ever wanted was to have the light. Well and water. So I'm good.

I know things will be different come the summer though. The trees will fill in with foliage and we wont see the neighbors any more however we will hear parties on the weekends from seasonal cottagers and we will watch fire works nightly through July and August. It was a novelty for about the first two weeks a few summers back but the kids learned to sleep through the pops and bangs in the air.

But then in the summer we can sit out on the deck and watch boat lights shimmer on the lake, and have bon fires in the yard. I am excited.

So anyway, it has been a long time since I posted. I have meant to but we still are trying to get settled here and it is a lot of work. I feel like I am skipping 12 posts and a million photos on my computer but I want to get to where we are now and I have to show you all what this looks like or risk a few more nasty phone calls, texts and e-mails, ok, ok, here it is already! And your messages really aren't nasty just nagging and they are keeping me awake at night so here we are.

Our mornings usually start out in this corner of the house. I sit with a coffee in my granny green chairs and watch the sun spread pink and peach across the horizon while the kids play and Dave goes for a nap or gets busy with chores. He has had the last two months off to get this place as up to as much speed as possible so he usually gets up with the two babies and lets me stay in bed an extra hour. So nice.

Starting the morning like this sets my head to vacation mode immediately and then I don't want to get busy working. The sun is warm and filters throughout the house. The furnace doesn't kick in until the sun sets and it has been really cold the last few days. In the -20's and our house was +25 all day although we only had it set to 22. Now come summer this could be an issue but we are surrounded by big trees that fill in and give shade, and then if all else fails there are doors to open and windows to open and of course AC. But for now I am glad there is sun although we could almost wear shades. We need to get blinds, it can get a little squinty.

And squishy.

Well for Ronin. Only cause he is so squishable.

The kids are loving it. I was so worried about them liking it and missing our old house and there being many tears. But I am thinking that all that praying so many of you did (thank you btw!) worked wonders. There hasn't been one tear or word of missing it, just exclamations of gladness and joy. Of course they still fight and bicker but over normal stuff, not about hating the new house.

Ethan was the one I was most worried about (again, what a waste of worry, tight stomachs and tension for nothing) since he stressed for months about not wanting to sell the city house, right down to the day we drove out here to spend the first night. But after our first night out here I asked him if he liked it. He said, "Mom, uuuh, I changed my mind, we sell city house, teep tottage!" After that we went back to the city to clean the empty house and he was fine. He had turned the chapter. That easy. I almost cried.

Flowers. Love my man.

He is a goober though sometimes. You know how in decorating magazines they often have a blurred silhouette of a person walking in a room? It give it an extra dimension and some movement and life.

I wanted to do that since Dave was in the room so I told him to blur. OK, move!

Faster, you're not blurring enough.

OK, he fails as a magazine blurr model but I probably would fail too as the photographer, ok, ok, so it was all my fault for not changing the settings, whatever.

It was fun and this was the photo that Ethan decided was the coolest, cause daddy's flying.

Anyway, this is the living room. We filter in and out all day and Dave winds up here in the evening to play NHL11. We decided not to get tv so we have a few movies but I haven't missed sitting down to a show once. I thought I would really miss it so I watched as much TV as possible in the few days before we packed up to move out here. But it has been an easy adjustment. I read instead. The kids have wanted to watch shows once in a while but they have some movies and that has filled the void. It's kinda nice.

We still have work to do in every corner of the house. The breakfast bar lights still haven't come in and I have yet to pick countertops.

There is art to paint, trim to get purchased, cut, painted and put up, blinds and curtains to get hung. It'll happen when it does. Some day.

Around noon the kids wind up at the bar where they can watch lunch get prepared and then chow down.

Diner style. Order's up!

Ronin. Food monster. He loves to eat.

We entertained for the first time on family day. It was neat to see how the place would handle a crowd.

It did. We figured out that we have seating for close to 30. We can paaaaartay! Not that we will but I like that the house has some space.

In the evening the lights come down. Family time.

And my chandelier which was a huge pain to order and have shipped but I am happy to have it. It is supposed to be a white coral finish but I think it might be more winter twiggy. Either way I think it goes out here. My gram wasn't so sure...she said it was interesting. I think that means it might not be so nice but I wasn't exactly aiming to please the masses.

Ah, my kitchen. Extremely uncompleted. The kids school shelves are my temporary island and plywood makes up the counters. I have no doors on the cabinets nor is the hood vent hooked up. The carpenter says it should come together in about a month and a bit. So for now it is functional just not so pretty.

I do love my porcelain apron sink though. What a great bathtub.

And I actually enjoy doing the dishes. I just look outside the whole time. It can be distracting though and I had to rewash a few things cause I forgot to look at what I was doing.

I am pretty happy.

This is my pantry and office area. There are no cabinet doors here yet either, not proper counter top and no upper cabinets. They will go across the whole wall.

The bathroom. This has taken some work and it is coming slowly.

Dave got the tiles that go on the platform around the tub grouted tonight so this should mean we have a functioning tub tomorrow night. Yay! And thank to those of you who let us shower at your places over the last few weeks!

The vanity is custom built from recycled barn board at a friends place. The floors are heated travertine and the rest is yet to come.

This is a rendering of the idea I have for the tub surround walls. It is standing pebble tiles. I think it will look better than this photoshop rendition but I did this to get an idea of how it might look. It will be a few weeks before the pebbles arrive though so we will be having very careful baths.

We have great helpers. We start the training young.

Storage is key since the house is so much smaller than our last. Less than half the size.

The laundry had to get stacked and share the back entrance and play area. It is functional though and I actually do laundry, well we would all fall on our faces coming in the door if I didn't so I kinda have to now.

And at the end of the night we wind down sitting and having quiet family time. We seem to all gravitate to different spaces but since the house is small we are all still together and close. It is different but I like it. I like that all our living spaces are connected. We end up being more connected too.

That wraps it up for now. I would have uploaded more but our internet is slow out here. Not dial up but still slow. I can no longer watch videos on u-tube or facebook. Apps take a day or two to load. It's a different pace out here.

I am just so happy for you Anna! Perhaps even MORE happy when we come visit in the summer and can enjoy the house and more importantly - the beach ;)Everything just looks amazing and I am so happy you have your dream home but more imporantly, your HOME :)Lots of loveChrista

Wow, so glad you're in and I love that you know it will all eventually get done. Things look great though! So jealous of your view from the kitchen sink - WOWZA!! And so glad to hear it's been an easy transition for the kids. That's important too! Enjoy!

Ah, such a good feeling to be on this side of it, huh? Even if there are icky things to deal with--you know what they are--they're not just the "what ifs" anymore. I had so much fun reading someone else's moving post instead of writing yet another one of my own!Everything looks beautiful and I envy you getting to move out of the city. We loved our one year of the country and intensely miss it. Moving back to city life is hard! Enjoy that view in the mornings for me please!

Looks gorgeous! You say it is smaller than your other house, but it looks bigger, perhaps it is just a better layout. My Sister says the same about her house now, much smaller than what she had here, but to me it seems so much bigger. Enjoy, hope to see it one day :)